Current Events Mingled With Fond Memories

Our Cat, Meg, gave birth to four kittens last night. Our kids were so excited that they used their high pitched I'm going to burst with excitement voice and sang Christmas carols. (The Christmas carol part is really true. Funny Huh?) So bursting with excitement Ruth and Kate actually got themselves ready for school with 20 minutes to spare. They almost never get themselves ready. Usually I just become a big old nag. So during their spare time they decided that each of the four oldest kids would get to name a cat and they each chose which one they wanted to name. Adam named one Boy. Johnny really did not like that name and begged me to make Adam name him something different. I refused. So Johnny decided not to name a kitten after all and to just call the one named boy, Chatty. Ruth named hers Spice, and Kate named hers Gigi, after the cat in Kiki's Delivery Service. So I named the last one Kiki.

At dinner tonight we were telling John the names we gave to the kittens. Johnny got after Adam for the poor name choice of boy. John asked Adam if he liked the name Boy. Adam said, "Yeah, my am boy." That reminded me of Ruth. So to help Johnny feel less upset we told these two stories about Ruth and Kate.

1. When Ruth was three she said that her name was "Girl Ruthy". By three and a half Ruth dropped the Ruthy and decided that her name was just "Girl". When people would ask her what her name was, Ruthy would say, "Girl". One day during Ruth's dance class Ruth's teacher said, "Come here, Ruthy." Ruthy would not come. Ruth's teacher asked her again. Ruthy said, "My name is not Ruthy. It is Girl." Ruth's teacher replied, "Your name is Ruthy. Come here, Ruthy." Ruthy again insisted that her name was Girl, so Ruth's teacher gave in and said, "Okay, Girl, come here." Ruthy actually continued insisting that her name was Girl until she was nearly four and a half. Then she wanted to be called Ruthy until first grade when she began insisting that everyone call her only Ruth.
   
2. When Kate was three and people asked Kate what her name was, Kate always said, "Kate Prettiful." If you would say, Kate, Katie, or Kathryn. Kate would make you say "Kate Prettiful." That lasted until she was about four. Now Kate insists on being called Kate. She will tolerate Kathryn, but she will completely ignore whoever calls her Katie. If you keep calling her Katie she will eventually correct you.

So wanting to be called funny names, and using funny names at three is a tradition in our family. In fact, when Johnny was three and a half to around four and a half he insisted that people call him, John Washington Robertson, and he would ignore poeple who would not say his full name.